David Schippers sure made that point on the interview I heard. See post #55.
David Schippers is wise enough to know you can't have it both ways, after 9-11.
09/19/1997
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A geophysicist said Thursday it cannot be determined from seismic readings if more than one bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
Raymon Brown, a scientist at the Oklahoma Geological Survey on the University of Oklahoma campus, said the seismic recordings are inconclusive. Brown appeared Thursday before an Oklahoma County grand jury investigating a larger bombing conspiracy.
"There's no evidence in the bomb signals for any additional charges," Brown told reporters.
The bombing was recorded on seismographs at the Omniplex Science Museum, about four miles northeast of the federal building, and at the Oklahoma Geological Survey site, about 16 miles southeast.
Multiple-bomb theorists have pointed to the presence of two signals - seconds apart - on each seismograph as proof of their claim.
Timothy McVeigh, 29, was convicted June 2 of destroying the Murrah Building with a massive truck bomb. The explosion resulted in 168 deaths. McVeigh has been sentenced to die. His Army friend, Terry Nichols, 42, is scheduled for trial Sept. 29 in Denver.
Federal prosecutors presented evidence at McVeigh's trial that a single bomb of fertilizer and racing fuel blew up the building.
Seismographs recorded two separate signals on the day of the April 19, 1995, bombing.
Brown said the number of recorded signals complicated the situation.
"The question remains just exactly what those signals represents," Brown said. "In geophyscial terms, there are too many possible explanations."
Brown was previously quoted in media reports saying the simplest explanation for the recordings was another bomb. On Thursday, he told reporters it can't be determined from the recordings whether more than one explosion occurred.
Brown said Thursday that he has never changed his story and that initial media reports misrepresented his findings.
"I had difficulty in explaining myself," he said. "This is technical, and I had a hard time explaining it."
Brown said two pulses were recorded after the truck bomb, but what caused them cannot be explained.
Also appearing before the grand jury Thursday was Jayna Davis, a former reporter for KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City.
In the weeks after the bombing, Davis aired reports from unidentified witnesses who said they saw McVeigh with another man days before the bombing in an Oklahoma City bar. Davis claims another witness identified the same man in a brown Chevy truck speeding away from downtown Oklahoma City minutes after the bombing.
Davis told The Oklahoman before her grand jury appearance that those witnesses wanted her to share their information with Oklahoma County prosecutors.
She said she gave prosecutors the information in January but did not reveal the witnesses' identities. Davis said prosecutors never contacted her before she received a subpoena to appear before the grand jury.
The witnesses want to cooperate with the grand jury, but not before they are guaranteed police protection, Davis said. They also want prosecutors "to express a legitimate interest" in pursuing indictments against the suspects they can identify, she said.
Davis said some of the witnesses have received death threats and apparent attempts on their lives, but she would not elaborate.
Davis testified for nearly three hours but would not comment as she left the grand jury.
Her attorney, Tim McCoy, said, "The only thing we can say at this time is that in accordance with the court order that was given a few days ago, she did not reveal any of her confidential sources. And we have been admonished not to make any further statements."
Davis is expected to return today to finish her testimony. Grand jurors also may hear from another witness before recessing until Oct. 6.
State Rep. Charles Key, R-Oklahoma City, and the late Glenn Wilburn, who lost two grandsons in the bombing, led the effort to impanel the grand jury. Key contends the federal government had prior knowledge about the bombing and hid the identity of others involved.